Chapter 13: Network Design and Management

• System Development Life Cycle, SDLC
  • A methodology for a structured approach to the development of a business system; it includes the following phases: planning, analysis, design, implementation, and maintenance.
• System Analyst
  • A professional who is typically responsible for managing a project and following the SDLC phases, particularly the analysis and design.
• Connectivity Maps
  • A series of figures used for modeling computer networks; types include wide area connectivity maps, metropolitan area connectivity maps, and local area overview and detailed connectivity maps.
• Technical Feasibility
  • The characteristic of a project that it can be created and implemented using currently existing technology.
• Financial Feasibility
  • The characteristic of a project that it can be completed as set forth within the budgetary constraints set by the company.
• Operational Feasibility
  • The characteristic of a project that will operate as designed and implemented.
• Time Feasibility
  • The characteristic of a project that it can be installed in a timely fashion that meets organizational needs.
• Payback Analysis
  • A financial analysis technique that charts the initial costs and yearly recurring costs of a proposed system against the projected yearly income, or benefits, derived from the proposed system.
• Time Value of Money
  • A concept that states that one dollar today is worth more than one dollar promised a year from now because today’s dollar can be invested now and therefore accumulate interest.
• Return on Investment, ROI
  • The business term for a “payback,” which occurs when the revenue generated by a new project becomes greater than the expenses associated with that project. When developing a new project, companies often use financial analysis techniques to determine when the project will earn an ROI, in other words, pay for itself.
• Capacity Planning
  • A time-consuming operation in the process of computer network development that involves trying to determine the amount of network bandwidth necessary to support an application or a set of applications.
• Linear Projection
  • A capacity planning technique that involves predicting one or more network capacities based on the current network parameters and multiplying by some constant.
• Computer Simulation
  • A software program used to simulate an often-complex operation, such as simulating a nuclear explosion, or the addition of an additional runway at an airport.
• Benchmarking
  • Involves generating system statistics under a controlled environment and then comparing those statistics against known measurements.
• Analytical Modeling
  • The creation of mathematical equations to calculate various network values during network analysis.
• Baseline
  • One of the best techniques for determining a network’s current capacities.
• Mean Time Between Failures, MTBF
  • The average time a device or system will operate before it fails.
• Mean Time to Repair, MTTR
  • The average time necessary to repair a failure within the computer network.
• Availability
  • The probability that a particular component or system will be available during a fixed time.
• Reliability
  • A calculation of the probability that a component or system will be operational for the duration of a transaction.
• Protocol Analyzer
  • A computer program that monitors a network 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and captures and records all transmitted packets.
• Sniffer
  • Software and hardware devices that can monitor a network to determine if there are an invalid message being transmitted, report network problems such as malfunctioning NICs, and detect traffic congestion problems; like network monitoring software.
• Network Management Protocol
  • Facilitates the exchange of management information between network devices.
• Simple Network Management Protocol, SNMP
  • An industry standard created by the Internet Engineering Task Force; it was originally designed to manage Internet components, but is now also used to manage wide area network and telecommunications systems.
• Agent
  • The software, or management software, that runs in an element; an element’s that has an agent is considered a managed element and can react to SNMP commands and requests.
• SNMP Manager
  • Controls the operations of a managed element and maintains a database of information about all the managed elements in each network.
• Management Information Base, MIB
  • The database that holds the information about each managed device in a network that supports SNMP.
• Remote Network Monitoring, RMON
  • A protocol that allows a network manager to monitor, analyze, and troubleshoot a group of remotely managed elements.